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- 5 September 2006
Youth Education and Training
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Mr STEVE WHAN: I direct my question to the Minister for Education and Training. What is the New South Wales Government doing to improve education and training opportunities for 15- to 19-year-olds?
Ms CARMEL TEBBUTT: I thank the honourable member for his interest in young people. The Iemma Government is committed to providing the best possible training and education opportunities for young people. Feedback from the State Plan consultations has already demonstrated significant support for increasing the opportunities for young people to undertake further school, work or study opportunities. The Government is aware of this and is already responding. Young people aged between 15 and 19 are at a crucial time in their life. The Government has already made significant investments to improve education and training opportunities for this group of students. It is a time when they are making decisions about what they are going to do with their future: Will they go to university, undertake further training at TAFE, or go straight into the work force? It is a difficult time, and a time when they need opportunities and support. The Iemma Government is working hard to provide students with that broad support.
In May this year the Government announced an investment of $18.5 million over the next four years to establish 10 trades schools. These schools will specialise in providing training for school-based apprentices in areas of skills shortages, such as health care, construction, automotive engineering and hospitality. The response to the trades schools plan has been overwhelmingly positive, regardless of whether one speaks to parents, teachers, students, businesses or local communities. The Government is heading in the right direction, but it knows there is much more to do. That is why it has developed a new strategy for 15- to 19-year-olds. The strategy sets a clear direction over the next four years for the education and training of students in this important age group.
The aspirations are simple and straightforward. This Government wants every young person in New South Wales to be engaged in education, training or employment. It knows that that is the key to a secure economic future. The strategy also sets clear and high expectations. The Government wants all students to aim higher. In addition, they will have greater choice and more opportunities with a blend of both academic and vocational experiences that will cater for the diversity of their needs and aspirations. Unlike the Opposition, which has no plans in this area, the Government will support New South Wales students in achieving those expectations. The Iemma Government will use cutting-edge technology to give students access to a broader range of subjects and specialist teachers, whether they live in remote areas of the State or in urban centres.
This Government has brought public education into the computer age by connecting every school to the Internet. Annual funding for technology has increased tenfold since this Government was elected—from $18 million in 1995 to $180 million this financial year. That significant investment in technology is evident in this strategy. We will create virtual classrooms so that students can access a broader range of subjects. If a student wants to study a subject that is not offered at his or her school because of the small number of students interested in the area, such as physics, languages and so on, we will link them and their teacher using technology—for example, videoconferencing, email and shared electronic white boards. That will expand their curriculum choices.
In addition, students with a particular interest will be linked to an expert teacher and other students across the State who share that interest. It might be an interest in cosmology, palaeontology, Australian history, environmental science and so on. The students will be able to hear from expert lecturers in those areas. The 15- to 19-year-old strategy will also allow students to study at more advanced levels through online study projects in areas such as extension maths, English, history or in a language area. We will establish a virtual university where students from anywhere in the State will be able to broaden their knowledge and undertake in-depth studies.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member for Baulkham Hills will come to order.
Ms CARMEL TEBBUTT: We are using technology in order to be able to increase the opportunities for students in the 15- to 19-year age group. But we also recognise that not all students in this age group want to pursue an academic path. We recognise clearly the importance of supporting students to undertake a trade or a vocational career. That is why we have introduced the Taste of TAFE Program, which will be a statewide program in 2007. It is specifically designed for years 9 and 10 students and those students who are interested in a career in the trades or technical area. It will also be important for students who are not sure at this stage which career option they want to pursue.
Combined with initiatives like our vocational educational and training in schools initiatives and the development of our trades schools, the Iemma Government is making sure that young people are well equipped for a trades career. Approximately 40 per cent of our years 11 and 12 students undertake a vocational education and training subject at school. We are investing $18 million over four years creating 10 new trades schools to give students more training opportunities than ever before. I hear the interjection from the honourable member for Lismore, but he should have a look at what the Opposition is doing.
Mr Ian Armstrong: Point of order: The Minister‘s address is of interest, but it is the same rhetoric the Minister for Education, Rodney Cavalier, used in 1984. Give us something new! Give us a new course.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. The issue is literacy and technology, not history.
Ms CARMEL TEBBUTT: I assure the House that not all schools were connected to the Internet when Rodney Cavalier was the Minister for Education. Nonetheless, the fact is that the commitment of this Government to preparing students for a trades education is second to none. Nowhere is the Opposition’s callous disregard for young people and lack of planning—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member for Lismore will cease calling out.
Ms CARMEL TEBBUTT: —more obvious than in this area. The Opposition has done nothing to hold the Federal Government to account for its failed technical colleges. The honourable member for Lismore interjects.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Lismore to order.
Ms CARMEL TEBBUTT: The honourable member for Lismore is upset because an Australian technical college was promised for the Ballina-Lismore area. In fact, the Prime Minister promised eight technical colleges, but do we have a technical college in the Ballina-Lismore area? No, we do not have an Australian technical college.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Government members will cease calling out. The Minister for Education and Training has the call.
Mr Donald Page: Point of order: The Minister is misleading the House. There are two proposals for Ballina. One has been rejected but the other one is under consideration.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. The honourable member for Ballina will resume his seat. The Minister for Education and Training has the call.
Ms CARMEL TEBBUTT: "Under consideration" is not much help to the students in Ballina. It has taken the New South Wales Iemma Government to set up a trades school in Ballina, because we can no longer wait for proposals that are under consideration. The honourable member for Ballina can take a point of order but, in fact, he wrote to me about the need for an Australian technical college in Ballina.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member for Ballina will resume his seat and cease calling out.
Ms CARMEL TEBBUTT: What was his proposal? Did he stand up to his Canberra mates and say, "Give us a technical college in Ballina. The students of Ballina deserve one. It is an award-winning high school." Did he do that? No, he wrote to me saying that we should adopt the Howard Government’s extreme industrial relations agenda and force our teachers onto Australian Workplace Agreements [AWAs].
Mr Donald Page: Point of order: The Minister is quoting from a document. I would like her to table the document.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member for Ballina will resume his seat. It is a matter for the Minister to decide whether she will table the document. The Minister has the call.
Ms CARMEL TEBBUTT: It is no surprise that this would be the proposal of the honourable member for Ballina, because we know that the Leader of the Opposition wants to hand the New South Wales industrial relations system to John Howard. We know that the honourable member for Ballina will not protect our teachers, our nurses or the rest of the employees in New South Wales; he will hand over the system to John Howard. And the evidence is very clear. The honourable member for Ballina wanted us to adopt the Federal Government's extreme industrial relations policy in order to get a technical college in Ballina. We will not be bought in that way.
We will stand up for our industrial relations system, and we have established our own trades school in Ballina, just as we have established the six others that have been announced. We will set up 10 trades schools. We cannot wait any longer for the Commonwealth. We cannot wait for the Leader of the Opposition and the Coalition to stand up for students in New South Wales because it will never happen. That is why this Government has announced the strategy for 15- to 19-year-olds, because we recognise the importance of providing clear pathways for adolescent students, and making sure that they are well prepared for the transition to adulthood.
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